The Blue & Gold: Volume XXV, Issue 2

Taipei American School | 800 Chung Shan N. Rd., Section 6, Taipei, Taiwan | blueandgoldonline.org | VOLUME XXV, ISS. 02 | October 16, 2018

NEWS

FEATURES

OPINIONS

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Fall drama and dance productions

A conversation on siblingshood

The long road to marriage equality

TAS conducts schoolwide facilities renovations

By Laura Hsu (‘22) Taipei American School conducted a variety of renovation projects led by CEO Mr. Larry Kraut and Director of Facilities Mr. Michael Dodge that ran from the beginning of June to the beginning of August.

“Some projects were based on regulatory changes, and some were based on things wearing out,” Mr. Kraut said. Categorizing projects was key to making the whole process easier for the renovation team.

By the time the renovation process started, furniture was already removed, and protection was applied to hallways specifically onto areas that needed to be improved. The large-scale renovation ran for 16 hours per day and employed 70 people.

Since bathrooms did not uphold TAS’ sanitary standards, they had to be completely redone. “It was not necessarily because they were not functional, but [the bathrooms were growing] quite old and becoming hard to clean and maintain,” Mr. Kraut said.

Classroom renovations involved modifying lighting, acoustics, and air conditioning. Fluorescent lighting was switched to LED lights. “Some people get fewer headaches from LED lights,” Mr. Kraut said. Originally, the air conditioning units were placed right alongside the window. Removing the units increased a significant portion of the classroom, so the air conditioning was added to the drop ceiling. This allowed for better air conditioning and a bigger usable space, an unexpected perk of the renovation.

When the school’s structure is examined closely in terms of each block and building, there is a drastic difference between the quality of D Block classrooms and classrooms throughout the rest of the school. So with the hope of bringing every classroom to a new standard, this summer’s renovation was the start of a four-year project aimed at bringing every classroom brought up to a new standard.

“Our goal is to get them at least to the D Block level, so we have that uniformity throughout the school and the learning environment for all students is the same,” Mr. Kraut said.

Orphanage Club to continue annual flea market, faces limitations

By Amanda Chiu (‘20) On Oct. 27, 2018, the Orphanage Club will host one of its biggest annual events, the flea market, in the B Block lobby and cafeteria. Orphanage Club has hosted an annual flea market for more than 20 years.

However, since they are now barred from using the basement as a storage space during school renovations, the club will not retain a booth to sell its own items for the 20182019 school year.

Orphanage Club recently sold many of their items in their final rummage sale on Sept. 22. In accordance with their storage shutdown, they will not be accepting

any more donations from community members during the school year. After more information arrives about the future of Orphanage Club’s storage premises in the coming academic year, they will begin accepting donations again.

The largest and oldest club in Taipei American School, they traditionally raise over $1.1 million NT ($38,000 US) in donations to various charities around the world every year, and have raised a total of over $77 million NT ($4.5 million US) over the course of 48 years.

This is the second major blow to the Orphanage Club’s revenue stream within the

last year.After a significant sewage spill in the basement last year, OC lost a significant amount of valuable and historical items.

The unexpected accident forced the members to focus on cleaning the contaminated donations. Jackie Shaw (‘21), OC officer, said, “When the flood happened I was really devastated because we lost everything we’d gotten from the past years [and] had to clean the basement out completely.”

Though the sewage spill destroyed many of the donations, OC has attempted to preserve their donations. Matthew Lo (‘19), co-president of OC, said, “At the end

of the day, we still performed just as well as any other flea market events we had before [because of the rummage sale where they sold rest of the items].” Another OC event, the book sale, helped restore some of the club’s income. However, events such as these may also face restrictions in the coming year, along with the loss of all storage spaces.

“We’ll have to make do with what we have this time,” said Matthew. Still, they hope to re-establish these club events in the future, and are looking for alternative storage methods both on and off campus. “We will have to find more space for events in the future,” said Mr. Arnold.

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the blue & gold october 16, 2018

November MUN madness

With four different Model United Nations confreences set to start in the next month, November is packed with MUN news.

By Kelly Phil (‘20)

THIMUN Singapore

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he Hague International Model United Nations Singapore will take place from Nov. 19-23 at Hwa Chong Institution.

This year, the practice schedules have even been adjusted to allow for more students to join than in previous years. “In previous years, students in the dance production or season one sports had conflicting schedules with this conference, but with this year’s changes, more students have been able to join,” Mr. Dante Benson said, Upper School social studies teacher and MUN coach.

However, due to schedule changes to accomdoate sports conflicts in the weeks leading up to the conference, the practices will become more tightly packed.

“I think THIMUN Singapore is definitely one of the conferences where students ought to prepare a lot just because of how advanced it is,” Mr. Benson said.

With 11 students making up its roster, the THIMUN Singapore team will be preparing by researching and conducting simulations of the conferences over the next couple of weeks.

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rom Nov. 9-11, 21 students will attend the 21st Seoul Model United Nations Conference. The conference will not be held in a school, like most conferenes; instead it will be held in the Coex Convention Center.

This year, the conference’s theme centers around Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel’s speech, “The Perils of Indifference.”

New committees like the Commission on the Status of Women and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs have been introduced to touch on issues that have been pushed to the margins to align with the theme.

Even though this will be the first year TAS is attending SEOMUN, the students and teachers attending the conferences are confident that they will leave a good first impression.

Yan Ying Mor (’20), the chair for the Commision on the Status of Women, said that for the two months leading up to the conference, students will how to research, write resolutions, and lobby with new people. With this training, the delegates “will be more than capable of being the most well-researched and diplomatic delegates in the room,” Yan Ying said.

Selene Kung (‘19, bottom right) leads the flutes during rehearsal. [PHOTO COURTESY OF MR. RAY HERBERER]

IASAS MUN

SEOMUN

BERMUN

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n Nov. 15, the IASAS MUN Conference will begin at the International School of Manila. The conference will conclude on Nov. 17, with students returning to TAS on Nov. 18.

To prepare in the months leading up the conference, students selected to attend the IASAS MUN Conference have begun to do some exercises practicing impromptu speech skills and some have also begun to research the conference’s topics in preparation.

Instead of representing a particular country or delegation in modern times, students of the Historical Joint Crisis Committee will represent a historical figure at a particular point of crisis. For instance, one of the issues delegates in the committee will tackle is the Suez Crisis of 1956.

“I think that JCC really challenges me to think beyond my history classes and really empathize with some of the people that were there in person and grow to understand how real life is affected heavily by history,” Derek Chan (‘21), one of the students attending the conference, said.This year’s team is very confident that they can perform well at the conference.

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his year’s Berlin MUN Conference will take place from Nov. 14-17 at the John F. Kennedy School. The conference has a long history stemming from the fall of the Berlin Wall when the two John F. Kennedy schools in Berlin agreed to conduct a MUN conference to commemorate the event.

This year, Taipei American School will be bringing 12 delegates to the conference. Already, students are getting ready by sorting themselves into different committees and familiarizing themselves with the committee topics.

“A lot of students in BERMUN are working extra hard to try to keep up with the conference’s standards,” said Eugene Choi (‘20).

Despite the heavy workload, this year’s relevant and interesting topics make it easier for students to spend time on their work. “Even though we have a lot we have to do, the fact that I can write about and talk about issues like the South China Sea and the Rohingya genocide makes it worthwhile,” Eugene said.

Jonathan Hau (‘19) and Annie Cho practice with other trumpeters.

[PHOTO COURTESY OF MR. RAY HEBERER]

Honors jazz band performs at Frankfurt jazz festival

By Maxwell Chen (‘19) On Sept. 20, the Taipei American School Honors Jazz Band travelled to Frankfurt, Germany, to attend the Association for Music in International Schools Honors Jazz Festival.

The jazz festival consisted of Honors Jazz Band, Honors Vocal Jazz Band and three Honors Jazz Combos. Because TAS does not have vocals for jazz, most musicians can only participate in the jazz band and combos. Traditional jazz usually consists of six trumpets, six saxophones, three trombones and three complete rhythm sections.

Mr. Ray Heberer, the jazz band and ensemble teacher, has been preparing his students for the AMIS Honors Jazz Festival since the end of last school year. On April, 11 upper school students auditioned for the festival by submitting recordings of their music to the AMIS jazz committee.

“I didn’t let every student send their tape. If [the recordings] had mistakes, I just couldn’t send them,” Mr. Heberer said.

Because of Mr. Heberer’s strict attention to detail, all 11 Honors Jazz Band students who auditioned were accepted into the program. 11 other students also attended the trip but were only allowed to participate in workshops and could not perform.

This trip was Selene Kung (‘19) and Annie Cho’s (‘20) first jazz festival. Selene performed as Alto Sax 1, and helped lead all the other saxophone players in the band. Annie auditioned for both trumpet and piano and was accepted to play both instruments, but she ultimately decided to play and focus on Trumpet 3 at the festival.

“Even though I was leading, it was surprising to see how much a good band could push me.” Selene said. At first, Annie was also nervous about performing at the jazz festival. “I never realized how advanced the band could be,” Annie said, “our rehearsals were at a faster pace than what I was used to playing.”

After both Selene and Annie practiced

with the band enough times, they not only felt that they improved as individuals but also as members of the ensemble. “[The Jazz Festival] brought us to a whole new level because the existing balance of the band forces us to be aware of all our entrances and our role in the song at each point,” Selene said.

Students who attended previous jazz trips also felt they improved from this year’s festival. After previously attending his first Jazz Festival in Singapore in 2017, Jonathan Hau (‘19) performed in Frankfurt, primarily as Trumpet 2.

Jonathan also had the opportunity to play Trumpet 1, which included leading other trumpets in the band for two of the performed songs. Compared to the previous trips Jonathan has attended and performed in, he believes that this year’s jazz festival was more challenging for him and other trumpet players.

“Last year there were six [trumpets] and four pieces, so we were [kind of ] able to

split it and double up,” Jonathan said, “this year, though, there were only four of us and four pieces, so we couldn’t split up like last year and had to make sure we could play everything perfectly.”

The festival was challenging, yet rewarding for the students that attended.

“My favorite memory was [when we] performed ‘Round Midnight.’ Selene’s solo was [amazing],” Daniel Hur (‘19), the saxophone alternate, said. Despite her initial struggle, Selene surpassed expectations with her solo.

After 5 days of performing at Frankfurt, the Honors Jazz Band returned to Taipei on Sept. 25. Mr. Heberer was pleased with both his student’s performance as well as the musical trip itself.

“I was very proud of [my students]. They sounded even better than what I had heard previously in Singapore,” Mr. Heberer said, “we also had some fun day trips to museums and enjoyable rehearsals too. Musically, it was an excellent experience.”

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the blue & gold october 16, 2018

Principal Dr. Richard Hartzell to retire

By Charlotte Lee (‘20) Dr. Richard Hartzell will be retiring from his position as Upper School principal at the end of the 2018-2019 school year.

Mr. Andrew Lowman, current associate principal, will be the next Upper School principal. Current academic support teacher Ms. Jill Fagen will begin her mentorship this year for her upcoming role next year as associate principal. Both are currently pursuing their doctoral degrees.

In an August 12 announcement, Dr. Hennessy said, “I will always think of [Dr. Hartzell] as my most critical hire. I will always know better than anyone how many ideas were planted by Dr. Hartzell, or how many brilliant projects came from teachers who brought them to him for institutional support.”

After a 12-year term as head of the Upper School administration, Dr. Hartzell said that it had become clear a couple years ago that he had “just gotten old,” despite the fact that he had never felt this way before.

Even after such a long career as principal, Dr. Hartzell believes that being an administrator was never his true calling.

Besides his spacious office, he said he does not like “any part” of his position, least of all public speaking and disciplining students. In fact, he finds it “comical” that students seem to think that administrators enjoy punishing kids.

In addition to his position as principal, Dr. Hartzell has been a teacher for 45 years, which he cites as his true passion. In his nine years teaching AP literature at TAS, his class become known for being one of the most rigorous English courses offered at TAS.

“A dozen years—time for new blood and new energy. What am I gonna do, work until they take me out in a coffin?”

800 CHUNG SHAN N. RD. TAIPEI 11152 TAIWAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF SHEREEN LEE (‘19)

MANAGING EDITORS CATHERINE LIN (‘19) CHRISTINE LIN (‘19)

SOCIAL MEDIA & MARKETING VANESSA TSAO (‘19)

NEWS AND SPORTS EDITOR In past years, Dr. Hartzell has been the only teacher of this class, visibly shaping its curriculum, and establishing a trivia game called “The $100 NT Question” that challenges students on their knowledge of the books they read. As Vanessa Su (‘19) said, “There are some teachers who have been at TAS for so long that they pretty much define the class itself. For Dr. Hartzell, it’s AP literature.”

Thus, it was only fitting that Dr. Hartzell’s decision to leave TAS was a slow but sure realization about giving up ownership. “You talk about this great existential experience,” he said. “It really came with AP literature.

At some point, you have to let go. I can’t say it’s my AP lit class, at some point it’s going to be somebody else’s class. Then I had to say, it’s not my school, it’s Taipei American School.”

Aside from teaching English, Dr. Hartzell has had plenty of other unconventional

encounters with the student body, including push up competitions with the strongest seniors in school, celebrating his 60th birthday and regular floor hockey scrimmages with PE classes. “I told the PE teachers that if they didn’t invite me to floor hockey, I’d fire them,” he said. “No one has ever not invited me.”

Upon reflection of his career, Dr. Hartzell has not one proudest moment, but feels proud when students do something great—which occurs often. “I’m constantly in awe of the students, I don’t think they give themselves enough credit,” he said.

Dr. Hartzell will officially retire as principal on May 31, 2019, the last day of the spring semester. However, he says that he does not feel particularly sentimental about his departure from TAS. “A dozen years— time for new blood and new energy,” he said.

“What am I gonna do, work until they take me out in a coffin?”

ANYA LAI (‘19)

OPINIONS AND VERDICT EDITOR KELLY PHIL (‘20)

FEATURES EDITOR CHARLOTTE LEE (‘20)

VIDEO EDITOR

ALEXANDER LIN (‘19)

STAFF WRITERS

MAXWELL CHEN (‘19) JOON KIM (‘19) AMANDA CHIU (‘20) VANESSA KANG (‘20) NAKIAH PANNELL (‘20) NICOLE CHANG (‘21) PHOEBE CHEN (‘21) IAN HO (‘21) ALLISON KWAN (‘21) NATALIE SCHEIDEL (‘21) LAURA HSU (‘22) SHARON LEE (‘22)

ADVISER

MS. LINDSEY KUNDEL

MISSION STATEMENT

The Blue & Gold is a student-run publication dedicated to sharing stories from the Taipei American School community. Produced and distributed free of charge monthly during the academic year by staff writers at TAS, the Blue & Gold strives to showcase and interrogate the community it serves.

Dr. Richard Hartzell lifts Terry Chung (‘16). [MELISSA CHO/ THE BLUE & GOLD]

Dr. Hartzell assists in the Holy Water Game on his last Field Day. [MS. LINDSEY KUNDEL / THE BLUE & GOLD]

Dr. Hartzell teaches in his AP French Language & Culture classroom. [CHRISTINE LIN / THE BLUE & GOLD]

Dr. Dan Long starts extracurricular leadership class

By Vanessa Kang (‘20) Leadership Lessons, a new leadership program to prepare students with important leadership and management skills, formally begun on Sept. 7. These lessons were designed to make a positive impact on the school community and to make extracurricular experiences for students not only productive, but also enjoyable.

Open to 12 passionate students interested in learning and implementing important leadership skills, the program features 10 lessons, including topics such as teamwork, developing and improving the collaborating skill of others, humility, changing toxic cultures, planning, and coordination. Led by Dr. Dan Long, Upper School dean of students; Ms. Evelyn Chen, Upper School Biology teacher; and Mr. Jaami Franklin, Upper School visual arts teacher; the leadership lessons meet biweekly before school at 7:00 a.m. in Dr. Long’s office. And yes, breakfast is served.

“I was inspired by conversations with Mr. Franklin and Ms. Chen to join forces

in offering this chance for students to think about their leadership,” Dr. Long said. “We ask those who sign up to commit to all 10 lessons. This demonstrates commitment to the group and to improving one’s ability to lead.”

Tingkuan Hsieh (‘20) expressed his delight over committing to the 10 classes.

“I signed up because I thought it was interesting, and because I have leadership positions right now in school,” he said. “I also signed up in order to understand my leadership flaws and work on changing them.”

Annie Cho (‘20), president of Harmonix, a club dedicated to performing music at a variety of school events, also explained her reasons for joining the class. “This year is my first time being president of a club. I joined Dr. Long’s classes because I need to know some basics on guiding people and the technical aspect of incorporating good ideas into our club so we can be successful,” Annie said. “I also think taking what I learned into action and actually implementing those new

skills into leading my club is going to be exciting but a bit difficult.”

“The best teams have to consist of both great leaders and great members.”

Annie’s first lesson taught her multiple things relating to leadership and cooperating with others. “The best leaders recognise the importance of the members and make sure to encourage them so they know they are valued,” Annie said.

So far, Dr. Long has seen good progress since the first leadership lesson and hopes that future sessions may be on the horizon.

“If the first session is a success, we will definitely consider having more classes in the future. Be on lookout for those signups,” Dr. Long said.

CORRECTIONS

We take all measures possible to report accurately, and seek to bring professional, thorough reporting to our readers. Please report any inaccuracies in Blue & Gold content to out email, blueandgold@tas.tw.

OP-EDS AND EDITORIALS

Editorials collectively represent the opinions of the Blue & Gold’s editorial board, while op-eds represent the opinions of each writer. Opinions in the Blue & Gold do not necessarily reflect the views of TAS student body, staff, faculty, or administration.

THE BLUE & GOLD ONLINE

The Blue & Gold runs an online edition that publishes articles every weekday when school is in operation. Find the website at blueandgoldonline.org.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We welcome letter submissions from all readers. Email your signed letter of under 500 words at blueandgold@ tas.tw.

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the blue & gold october 16, 2018

THE STAGE IS SET

In October, Upper School students will debut two arts productions: “Little Shop of Horrors” and “A Christmas Carol.” Find out more about the casts, crews, and stories behind the perfomances.

Clockwise from left: Doo-Wop Girls sing as they try to convince Seymour (Leo Horwitz, ‘21) to woo Audrey (Olivia Houston, ‘19); Audrey’s father, Orin (Samir Mahtani, ‘19) threatens Seymour; Mr. Stephen Abernethy leads the pit orchestra. [SHEREEN LEE/THE BLUE & GOLD]

“Little Shop of Horrors”: parental guidance advised

By Nicole Chang (‘21) This year’s annual Upper School musical production will be held from Oct. 24-Oct. 27, and it is based on the 1960s Roger Corman comedy-horror film, “Little Shop of Horrors.”

The play follows a floral shop worker named Seymour (Leo Horwitz ‘21), as he stumbles across a unique man-eating plant (Victor Kao ‘21). The plant, Audrey II, who Seymour names after his co-worker and secret love Audrey, begins to demand more human flesh and blood. Eventually, Seymour, with the help of Audrey (Olivia Houston ‘19),

learns to juggle his love life and career in a seris of comical events.

Lead director Ms. Kari Jensen, who will be directing her first official show at Taipei American School this year, said that this musical production is extremely different and unique compared to the other musicals that are out there. Although humorous, the play takes a more gruesome approach, which is why parental guidance is advised for younger children.

Having directed this particular show twice in previous schools, Ms. Jensen said that the

cast and stage sizes were some of the biggest differences that she noticed in regards to her experience at TAS compared to other schools.

The musical production will also be a new experience for many including Nicole Lin (‘21), who will be playing Chiffon, one of three girls who lead the Doo Wop Girls. “I wasn’t going to do it at first. I have always been interested in musicals but I was scared of the acting part, and then Ms. Jensen encouraged me to do it.”

The production has also tested the limits of the actors. Leo Horwitz said, “This is my

first time in a lead role and [having] so many lines that it’s overwhelming. The hardest part has been memorizing the songs, and getting all the notes and harmonies down.”

Despite these difficulties, Leo said “I think that people will definitely enjoy the show and have a good laugh along the way.”

The shows on Oct. 24-26 will start at 7:30 p.m., while the last show on Oct. 27 will start at 2:00 p.m. Online TAS website sales ended on Oct. 7. More tickets are available for purchase under the Skybridge, and in the Tiger Store for $400 NT each.

“A Christmas Carol”: a holiday dance yet to come

By Sharon Lee (‘22) From Nov. 15-17, Taipei American School dancers will perform an adaptation of “A Christmas Carol,” based on Charles Dickens’ novella of the same name.

The story follows the personal journey of how Ebenezer Scrooge, (Holly Chen, ‘19 and Christine Lin, ‘19) notorious for his vile attitude, discovers that true happiness and redemption comes through kindness.

On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by deceased business partner Jacob Marley (Rachel Hsu, ‘19 and Vanessa Su, ‘19), who is weighed down by the crimes he has committed and has come to warn Scrooge that he will suffer the same fate if he does not change.

Following Marley’s visit are the three spirits: the Ghost of Christmas Past (Nicole Carver, ‘20 and Chloe Yong, ‘20), the Ghost of Christmas Present (Harrison Yu, ‘20 and Genevieve Chan, ‘20) and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Vanessa Su, ‘19 and Rachel Hsu, ‘19). These ghosts

show Scrooge events of the past, present and future, eventually convincing him to redeem himself.

The dance production directors, dancers, technicians, and backstage members could not wait to start their journey together in rehearsing for the dance production.

“We have a later production this year, so [co-director Ms. Cheryl Lagerquist and I] thought that it would be fun to do a Christmas -themed story,” dance instructor Mrs. Deborah Flemming said.

The dance production has a variety of dance styles, including contemporary, hiphop and jazz with edgy, modern and surreal costumes. With solos, duets and group dances, these scenes range from feel-good to scenes that are dark, edgy and spooky.

Victor Fan (‘19), who plays Scrooge’s office manager, Bob Cratchit, said that the most difficult part of participating in the dance production is having confidence in yourself and your ability to do well in front of an audience.

“I think it’s really fun when you’re given a choreography, and then the feeling after you master it and can do it by yourself with confidence,” Victor said. “That’s one of the best feelings in the world.”

For Gloria Lee (‘22), one of seven freshmen dancers in this production, dance has become both liberating and stressrelieving. “Dance can help tell a story, so if you’re struggling, you can show your emotions through dance,” she said.

Although the dance production follows Dickens’ original that kindness leads to happiness, some changes are made to the scenes throughout the story. “We have a lot of gender bending this year. Scrooge is a woman, Marley is a woman,” Mrs. Flemming said. Vanessa says that the gender change does not make a difference to her. “It can be up to your interpretation, it doesn’t really matter if I’m a girl or boy.”

Tickets will be sold starting the first week in November in the Tiger Store and on the TAS website.

Dancers rehearse with dance instructor Ms. Deborah Flemming in rehearsals.

[SHEREEN LEE/THE BLUE & GOLD]

Visit blueandgoldonline.org for more coverage of “A Christmas Carol” closer to its performance date.

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the blue & gold october 16, 2018

SIBLINGHOOD: benefit or burden?

An only child and a sister discuss how their perspectives on siblinghood has been shaped by personal experience.

By Charlotte Lee (‘20) and Shereen Lee (‘19)

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[PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHARLOTTE LEE AND SHEREEN LEE]

CHARLOTTE: There is a scene from the TV show “Downton Abbey,” where Mary and Edith, two sisters who hate each other, are finally starting to reconcile. Mary asks Edith, “Why are you here?” Edith responds, “Because, in the end, you’re my sister and one day, only we will remember Sybil... or Granny or Carson or any of the others who have peopled our youth...until, at last, our shared memories will mean more than our mutual dislike.” Things you experience in your childhood are better shared with someone else. Not because you want to share that good memory and reflect upon it together—but because 50 years later, your sibling serves as a witness who can testify to your sanity and the truth of your memories.

50 years later, your sibling serves as a witness who can testify to your sanity and the truth of your memories.

SHEREEN: What happens when two people growing up in the same environment do not share the same worldview, and or experience things in the same way? Siblings who are of different genders, or who were treated differently, will not necessarily have that bond. And it is so high stakes. If two people do not agree on something but are constantly reminded of those gaps, that exposure can breed a lot of resentment.

C: Having a good sibling relationship is not dictated by whether or not the two people are moral or compatible. Rather, having a relationship makes you a better person. Competition among siblings does not exist unless someone puts it there.

S: I think there are few conventional family structures supporting this rah-rah siblinghood view. I come from a single parent family, and according to the New York Times, about 30 percent of those married in the 1990s have divorced. When my mom

was young, she was singularly responsible for her brother when they immigrated to a totally different country. It is easy to be in a situation in which the default power balance is disrupted. So while I can see what you mean, I feel like siblinghood is really high stakes. It often veers into territory that deals with foundational beliefs more often than friendships do, and in a way that is more risky.

C: Conventional households can support healthy sibling relationships but overcoming adversity together can too. For example, my mom grew up in shared housing, and her dad ran a tofu stand in the wet market. They were poor—so my mom cooked for her younger brother every single day. And these sacrifices do not go unrepaid: When she told my uncle about one of the bullies at school, he decided to go “beat him up.” It ended up being quite anticlimactic because he just poked the bully in the ribs, but you get the point. My mom loved telling me these stories because despite the fact that her childhood was imperfect, she had moments with her brother that made it better. My uncle now owns a jewelry store. He often gifts my mom earrings and necklaces without occasion. This is how they express love: For a generation that went from dirt poor to upper-middle class, it is common practice for Cantonese families to do small favors for certain relatives, like consistently refusing to let the other pay for dinner. This is their way of saying, “Thanks for looking out for me when I was little.”

S: I am saying that the “you don’t hold anything over them” dynamic that you mentioned earlier is disrupted. And since that is the primary factor that separates parents from siblings, it is not always a given that having a sibling is going to avoid the pitfalls of other family relationships.

C: Petty arguments and how your parents treat you are things that you cannot control. Conflict will find a way into your life no matter what. So, if it exists in your relationship with your sibling, then so be it; arguments will happen. But I think these small arguments are offset by the fact that you have a lifelong friend, or at least a person who has watched you grow up. Your parents and grandparents will die before you, and your friends can leave you. But it is much harder to lose a relationship with someone who has been with you from the very

beginning.

Occasionally hating your sibling is an inevitable part of the jo b. The logic behind the fear of “mediocre sibling relationships” is flawed, because sibling relationships are by default good. It takes work to make that relationship bad.

S: I feel like interdependence can be difficult in of itself, though. As an only child, you learn how to be lonely. And you learn how to do things without a support network. I feel like being an only child has made my ties to the broader world more real and present, since I am often on my own.

It is terrifying, but it’s also good preparation imo for times when you are going to have to do things on your own.

C: That is a valuable lesson, but childhood is not solely a preparation for adulthood. The greatest thing about being a kid is that you get to be a kid. The concept that loneliness allows for independence is an optimistic point of view that could only come from an only child, someone who has no choice but tell themselves that, because there is no other reality.

S: That is fair. Well, from what I see, siblinghood is not always, in the moment, something that contributes to a childhood experience in the stereotypically positive way.

Because while you and your brother might have a pretty much unconditionally positive relationship, that is really far out of the norm. Do you feel like your relationship has made you more insular? Because that is what I assume from my own experience, but I do not really know.

C: Spending so much time with a person can change your communication habits.

After my brother graduated, my parents starting talking to me more and I realized that they have a quite diluted understanding of what I try to express to them. They only understand 60, 70 percent of what I say, and that is going to take some getting used to. But having a sibling ultimately does not limit your worldview. There are thousands of instances where my brother has encouraged me to take advantage of new opportunities and introduced me to cool people. Having an additional person in your life does not make you insular. It is actually quite the opposite.

S: I have no beef against having siblings, but I just do not know what it is like. I have

less loyalty to the concept of family, which is sad, but which has made my life easier in many respects. The whole concept of friends being the family you choose helps because I think that it would be so hard for me to completely unconditionally care about anyone without the parent dynamic in place especially.

If two people do not agree on something but are constantly reminded of those gaps, that exposure can breed a lot of resentment.

C: Do you believe in unconditional romantic love?

S: For me, it is a certain brand of love that trusts that you will always put your partner’s interests first, sometimes above your own.

Parents have that kind of agreement even though it is one-sided to a large extent. The kid has no obligation to put the parent first, unless they choose it. And for siblings it is even scarier because there is not really that inherent agreement. Everything is fair game, and that is scary. I would imagine siblings know exactly how to hurt each other the most.

C: But that sort of malicious intent is very difficult to breed. Regardless of your family circumstances, your actions are products of choices—and hurting your sibling is not the first one. I do not believe in unconditional love. It is too extreme to think that it is possible to love someone no matter what, because that contradicts the reason why love exists in the first place. I think love is dependent on time and place, when situations happen to involve another person and when everything works out right.

And that is why siblinghood is so important. some of us. They remind us of simpler and happier times.

6

the blue & gold october 16, 2018

Make fashion fashionable One student’s case for a fashion class in the Upper School STEAM curriculum

EDITORIAL

WE ARE NOT THERE YET: the long road to marriage equality in Taiwan

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage in 2015, the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights stages a demonstration to advocate for marraige equality. [TAIWAN ALLIANCE TO PROMOTE CIVIL PARTNERSHIP RIGHTS]

When Taiwanese people travel abroad and mention where they are from, they must always be ready with lengthy explanations to counter two possible responses: “Oh, Thailand, how wonderful!” and “Don’t you mean China?” This is one disadvantage to living in a largely unknown almost-country with a handful of diplomatic allies about as obscure as itself (E-Swantini, anyone?).

For a single year, Taiwan’s status as the first country to legalize same sex-marriage in Asia seemed to put it solidly on the map.

In May 2017, the Council of Grand Justices ruled that the ban on same-sex marriage in the Civil Code was unconstitutional, giving the Legislative Yuan two years to draft a law to legalize it.

However, the ruling included one crucial loophole, leaving open the question of whether to create a separate bill or to revise the gendered language of the Civil Code. The anti-marriage group Happiness of the Next Generation Alliance quickly took advantage of this ambiguity, filing a referendum proposal for the Legislative Yuan to create a separate law.

A separate civil partnership law specifically for same-sex couples would deny them the title of “marriage,” affirming

an inequality between heterosexual and homosexual love.

The referenda represent a step backward for Taiwanese democracy. If the experience of Australia and Ireland are instructive, the referenda may bring severe psychological harm to the LGBTQ community, as antimarriage equality groups fill the airwaves and blanket streets with homophobic speech.

According to the Guardian, a survey of 1,657 Irish LGBTQ people showed that negative campaign materials caused distress and anxiety, particularly young people.

“There were often cruel remarks saying that gay people turn their stomach, especially from my father, grandmother and one sister,” one respondent said.

Moreover, the referenda reveal the Legislative Yuan’s dearth of political courage.

While the two opposing campaigns compete for votes, many politicians look on, refusing to publicly take a stance on the issue until the referenda have revealed which position would least likely endanger their careers.

As the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch wrote, “A referendum on a fundamental rights issue like marriage equality in effect submits the human rights

of same-sex couples to a popularity contest.

Part of the responsibility of the legislature and the judiciary is to uphold and protect minority rights.”

The referenda are at odds with the values of our civil society, where the popular will is meant to be subordinate to rule of law, and the rule of law is meant to restrain citizens from trampling upon the rights of marginalized groups.

The referenda are not only a setback for LGBTQ people, but also a setback for all Taiwanese people.

What puts Taiwan on the map is not one tall skyscraper, brawling politicians, or legendarily long queues. What defines us is the role Taiwan has carved out as a model of respect for human rights in Asia.

The referenda are not only a setback for LGBTQ people, but are also a setback for all Taiwanese people.

Anime transcends negative stereotypes

By Nakiah Pannell (‘20) A dark-haired, blue-eyed god brandishes his knife with a purification spell before slicing through a phantom. This phantom was bred from jealousy and tension between students a day before exams and lurks on school grounds unseen by humans. By slaying it, the god uplifts the metaphysical environment.

My first anime, “Noragami,” opened my eyes to the surreal and eccentric world of anime. I believe this world has empowered me to become a spiritual person, unabashed about my determinism and with a greater appreciation of beauty.

Without ever having watched anime, my friends always reject my recommendations.

They have their reasons: the cheesy and exaggerated scripts embedded with cringe humor, the redundant plotlines that cater to the ‘male fantasy’ and the abundance of sexualized women are present aspects in almost every anime I have ever watched.

Because of this reputation, the earnest values of many animes are ignored.

Stereotypes, often external to Japanese society, plague the anime fandom. Fans deal with their peers’ assumptions that they are anti-social, introverted or only watch

anime for its sexual content, which makes it difficult to be unashamed about their passion for anime in the face of ridicule.

But anime culture is evolving. As anime becomes more representative of Japan culture on a global scale, it has the power to ratify popular moral beliefs within Japanese society. Animes like “Yuri on Ice” and “Seirei no Moribito” offer LGBTQ representation and strong female characters to counter mainstream heteronormativity and longstanding gender stereotypes.

Stories of anime often aim to frame somber, real-world controversies. The works “Nausicaa Valley of the Wind” and “Grave of the Fireflies” of Studio Ghibli feature the devastation and grief of communities of post-nuclear warfare in connection to the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings.

Each time Animanga club president, Winnie Wang (‘19), watches a new anime she discovers a new perspective on life. Many animes use the empowering monologues of their characters to portray these perspectives in a heroic light; one example is the “cruel and beautiful world” monologue from “Shingeki No Kyojin.”

Thematic purpose is also demonstrated by applying abstract conditions to an

invented reality. “Kimi No Na Wa” and “ERASED” alter the dimensions of time to prove ideas regarding predestined romance and fate.

“Death Note” evaluates capital punishment by following a psychopath who is given the power to kill people simply by writing their names in a book, and quests to purge the human race of convicts and criminals. This anime combines the antihero’s sadism with his altruism to emphasize that people are not exclusively good or evil.

However, most extreme anime fans, or “otakus,” do not watch anime for its didactic undertones, but to wind down. Watching anime is a way to escape academic stress or make new friends.

“It’s a distraction from life,” online fan, Patrick Chao (‘20), said, while Minhyung Lee (‘20) talked about how the topic of anime initiated many of her friendships and gave her a place to belong at TAS working as Treasurer of the Animanga club. Tingkuan Hsieh (‘20) and his volleyball team rave over Haikyuu, and he even watches it before starting a game for motivation and focus.

The endless list of genres and subgenres of anime allows everyone to find their interests and their home.

By Vanessa Kang (‘20) While designing a collection for the I Love Art fashion club, I realized that some student designers in ILA who have not yet fully experienced the basics of design and technicalities of creating garments. TAS should consider adding a fashion course to the Upper School curriculum as a STEAM class.

“If TAS had a class in fashion, I would be able to make my own clothes and understand the fashion industry better,” said Harrison Yu (‘20).

The absence of fashion in the curriculum disadvantages students interested in pursuing a career in fashion.

Recently, due to the expansion of global markets and technological developments, fashion consumers are predicted to have more buying power. Also, the number of potential customers is estimated to grow to over 1.1 billion by 2020, which has encouraged many to pursue a career in fashion. These statistics reveal that within the next decade, the growing importance of the fashion industry.

“We should definitely add a fashion course to the Upper School covering technical aspects of making clothes,” Harrison Yu (‘20), an ILA club member, said.

“Even though we have ILA, it’s not quite enough for students who want to go further in depth on either creating garments or fashion design.”

“If there is no possibility for a fashion course there are other alternatives TAS could explore,” visual arts department chair Ms. Michelle Kao said. She explains that students have shown an interest in fashion before. “In the past, if students were interested in fashion and creating clothes, they would find ways to learn it in school,” she said. “They would often learn to design and sew from the seamstress, who creates costumes for theatre and dance productions,” she said.

Despite the fact that help relating to pursuing an interest in fashion is available, students who are interested in fashion need teacher guidance and experience in order to succeed.

The addition of an actual fashion course would not only be more rewarding, but would also develop students’ abilities to meet the competitive industry of fashion.

Currently, students who wish to understand the fashion industry and the technicalities of creating clothes can visit the seamstress to pursue those interests. TAS also offers honors advanced design and the AP studio art portfolio, which can be somewhat adapted to fit individual interests. However, the addition of a fashion related course would bring in a new wave of passionate students who could bring major changes to the fashion industry in the future.

7

the blue & gold october 16, 2018

TO THE EDITOR: RE: “Let’s talk about the dress code”

By Alexander Lin (‘19) “Yes, my shorts are longer than my fingertips,” she said. “Shoulders covered, yep. Midriff covered, uhhuh. Midriff covered while standing up, check. Detention? I hope not.”

“Yes, I’m wearing a shirt, he said.” “No, my underwear isn’t showing. Detention? Probably, because I fell asleep during the assembly.”

As a guy, even I think the dress code is sexist, discriminatory, and one-sided. The dress code itself states that dress should be “modest and neat.” But I argue that that the dress code isn’t about dressing neatly: it’s about making sure that students, namely girls, dress modestly, as to not be a distraction to guys . Modest, according to Merriam Webster, is defined as,“Dressing or behaving so as to avoid impropriety or indecency, especially to avoid attracting sexual attention.”

Thus, we are effectively punishing girls because guys cannot control their sexual impulses. I’m sorry, we say, but young men just can’t seem to focus in class. I’m sorry, there’s just something too sexual about your shoulders. This logic is only a short step away from “I’m sorry, but your short skirt caused your rape.”

Now, maybe you think I’m just another one of those crazy feminazis. Maybe I’m just obnoxious, whiny, overly-sensitive, and anti-men. Maybe I’m wrong; and the dress code isn’t sexist, discriminatory, and one-sided. So let’s give the dress code the benefit of the doubt. Let’s imagine that it actually is just about making sure that students dress professionally and not about making sure that girls don’t become a distraction to guys. After all, the dress code does include a ban on “tank tops, gym, or beach attire.” We wouldn’t want our school turning into a scene from “Baywatch,” would we? However, I have never once, in my four years of high school, seen a single male student disciplined due to the dress code. This is not to say that I haven’t seen guys violating the dress code.

In fact, I see them just about every day. Every guy wears sneakers and basketball shorts—athletic wear with no place in the classroom. Yet nobody calls them out.

So is the dress code really beneficial, or fair? I’ll let you be the judge.

RE: Taipei American School hosts club fair

By Rachel Hsu(‘19) The meaning of service has evolved— been diluted, derailed, and distorted—at TAS. I don’t mean this in the sense that service itself has been adulterated; rather, a phenomenon has emerged that associates the act of community service with an inherently (and paradoxically) self-serving cause.

This is not to say that I don’t empathize.

It’s inevitable, to an extent, that we enumerate our acts of goodwill on paper or par la bouche simply because we are often asked to.

As lean and mean runners in the rat race of college preparation, we feel an unavoidable obligation to make ourselves “look better”.

Doing good unto others, both fortunately and unfortunately, is a means through which some of us choose to achieve that.

Consequently, there are some who oppose the notion of organized service entirely. The hierarchical and superficial nature of clubs institutionalizes something that should be done from the goodness of our young and able hearts.

But there’s a simple solution to the problem of students using community

service to gain leverage for their applications.

We should just have a mandatory community service requirement for everyone, complemented and supplemented by school-sanctioned service “events”.

When I was at my old school, we had an in-school service program called SQUID: in the last twenty minutes of each lunch period, two SQUID-duty students would put yellow vests on; ask the janitors for broomsticks, gloves, and Windex; and clean after their classmates. Each student had to sign up for at least one shift of SQUID duty per semester.

In addition to its ethical purpose of reminding us of our extreme privilege (because really, the fact that our school even has janitors is a luxury in and of itself ), SQUID also served a rudimentary, practical purpose: it compelled students to actually clean up after themselves. And, surprisingly, instead of being deterred by the prospect of menial labor, the students enjoyed SQUID duty. Scrubbing lunch tables with another person made for surprisingly great bondingexperiences.

It definitely made cleaning up more

of a personal obligation. The response to inevitable food and drink spills was not a lackadaisical “Whatever, some janitor will clean it up”. It was an automatic “I’ll go get paper towels. Sanjay and Francis are on SQUID duty later” (guilt and compassion were the main culprits).

SQUID is just one of many examples of the ease and importance of school-sanctioned community service. Too many times have I seen students and adults alike vandalize their immediate environments by littering food, wrappers, cigarettes, and more, despite advocating for global measurements against forces deemed harmful to the environment.

Why not help your own community in addition to helping on a larger scale? The two are not mutually exclusive. With a requirement like SQUID, students could benefit from a cleaner campus, a heightened consideration for peers, and a sense of accomplishment from service done for the community. instead of for the applications.

The easiest way to clean up a mess is to avoid creating one in the first place.

RE: Taipei American School should have online classes

By Rachel Shu (‘21) Four hours of lessons. six hours of homework. Sleep and repeat.

This summer, I took a math test because like every other student, I wanted to take the highest class I could. That test determined whether I would be able to catch up with the curriculum, so you could imagine how stressful it was for me.

This was no easy task, and it entailed hours and hours of mind-numbing study sessions every single day for two months.

Instead of being set free from the multitude of stressors that the previous school year brought to the table, I had to deal with a magnified version of that stress.

Although that obstacle has run its course, the memories of the numerous study sessions will linger in my mind forever; that summer was two months that I will never be able to get back.

What infuriates me is that if had I been allowed to take an online math course during the school year, I could have avoided that experience altogether. If I had taken an online class alongside another in-person math class, I would not have had to mentally overexert myself. I could have done things at

a steadier pace, instead of learning a year’s worth of material in two months.

Therefore, the sentiments you expressed are ones that I share. TAS should allow for online classes to be taken, or else students will subject themselves to stressful activities that will surely deteriorate their mental and physical health. The Global Online Academy has already proven itself credible, so why not implement it into the curriculum?

We all know that TAS students are overachievers with an insatiable appetite for knowledge. The school is more than aware of this, and should cultivate that innate thirst, instead of choosing to disregard it by barring us from taking online classes.

Our growth is being limited because our school cannot open its eyes and recognize that we are hungry for more intellectual pursuits. We simply cannot grow if we are perpetually starving.

Disregarding that intrinsic thirst is forcing us to resort to more stress-inducing measures, like cramming a year’s worth of material into two months.

By proposing the notion that we would not be able to handle the additional classes, our school is doubting our capabilities. We

come to this school to be challenged, but that could never happen if we were restricted to only taking eight classes or fewer a year.

During course selection season, I witnessed almost every student contemplate whether they should take “this course,” or “that course,” because they couldn’t fit it all in their schedules. Although the courses being debated differed from student to student, everyone had one thing in common: they all expressed their desire to take more than eight classes.

Four hours of lessons, six hours of homework.

Sleep and repeat.

The phrase “be your best self ” was repeated constantly throughout our elementary years, but by discrediting online classes, we simply are unable to be our best selves or we will resort to damaging methods to do so. Thus, I implore TAS to not succumb to the comforts of orthodoxy and to in turn allow us to grow.

RE: “REVIEW: ‘Doing School’”

By Brian Lain (‘21) After class discussions, the majority of my friends stated that they are “driven” to do school the same way the author Denise Clark Pope portrayed students in “Doing School.” Some of them do not even think stress is unhealthy! In fact, they believe getting used to stress is what will help us embrace reality and conquer tough challenges in the future.

I understand all the listed perspectives and opinions on the reading, though I found the text and reactions to be extremely passive. Such responses place blame on the education system for the unhealthy stress and unethical values (e.g. cheating) students employ to achieve the illusion of perfection.

What exactly is a good student?

Honestly, I am not quite sure. I still feel lost in the midst of the high school madness, even as a sophomore.

However, I believe spending quality family time on weekends and talking to my parents are what has kept me going.

I believe the time we spend with family cannot be compromised by the pursuit of high academic achievements and tenacity to outrun others in the high school race.

Regardless how busy or tired I am, I can seek ways to capture the echoes of my childhood. Every time I walk back to Model United Nations practice in the middle school building, I see myself sitting in those same chairs years ago.

I think about how my childhood and journey of growth. High school really isn’t

as bad as Pope portrays. These wonderful moments exist. It’s just a matter of whether we want to focus on these positives to not only destress, but to enrich our lives.

These reader-submitted letters are the opinions of the authors and do not represent the views of the Blue & Gold, its staff, or Taipei American School.

To submit your own letter in response to any of our articles in this print edition or online, email our editors at blueandgold@tas.tw. All letters submitted for consideration in our next issue should be in response to an article published on or after Oct. 16, either in this issue or online.

8

MAKING MUSIC

the blue & gold october 16, 2018

This edition, the Blue & Gold unconvered a few hidden musicans and producers to share a little bit about their creative process with the Taipei American School community.

Lauren Woo: Writing songs that heal

By Laura Hsu (‘22)

Lauren Woo (‘20) records herself singing.

[PHOTO COURTESY OF LAUREN WOO]

This summer, Lauren Woo (‘20) was invited by her favorite songwriting teacher to perform during one of the sidewalk shows at Berklee College of Music’s summer program. With her heart pounding, and palms sweating, Lauren picked up her guitar, and sang her heart out while performing one of her hand-written songs for the first time.

She has been interested in music ever since she could remember. “I used to put on shows for my family, and after dinner I would ask everyone to sit in the living room, then I would sing and dance,” she said.

Lauren has composed her own music since eighth grade. She also has a YouTube channel in which she posts covers and originals that have garnered as many as 2,000 views within the past eight months.

She takes her songwriting inspiration from just about anywhere. “If I happen to break up with a guy, I would write a song about that. If I like a guy I’ll write a song, if I’m having a good day with my friends, you know—just like a diary,” she said.

Luckily, Lauren’s family has been extremely supportive and favorable of her decision to start songwriting. She said, “They helped me find producers, paid for everything and allowed me to take classes.”

In fact, her dad and grandmother played one of the most crucial characters on her

songwriting journey. They provided her with emotional support and constructive criticism to reflect on her songwriting and singing.

Songwriting is not something that can be done easily. The writing process ranges from two hours to three months. “Sometimes I would sit at the piano or play my guitar in order to find chords I liked, than I would start humming tunes, and words just blurt out,” Lauren added.

Lauren finds going to Berklee over the summer, the most hectic yet valuable experience she’s had. “It definitely helped me grow as a person and as a musician,” she said. One of the most pivotal parts of pushing through comfort zones, is to break into new boundaries, and go through some unavoidable internal struggles. This is no different in Lauren’s case. When asked about her experience, she said, “the whole experience in Berklee kind of built me up and also put me down, but that’s part of itlike I kinda had to experience that.”

Lauren added on with a famous Chinese quote, “人外有人，天外有天”—“No matter how good you think you are, there is always someone out there that is better”.

As a songwriter that has just been introduced to talented musicians like Lauren herself, she believes seeing the bigger picture of things always provoke and push one to get a better idea of how big the world is, and how small you really are.

When asked to give a word of advice for all the aspiring musicians out there, she said,“If something happens—write about it, but don’t write words to fill in the blanks, instead write from your heart, some people try to rhyme words, and they put in random things, but don’t do that. Write as it flows out.”

“It might sound naive, but I aspire to be a recording artist,” Lauren said. Everyone’s take on music varies, but for Lauren, music is a way to express her feelings, and connect with other people.

Victor Kao: A pursuit of musical success

By Phoebe Chen (‘21)

Victor Kao (‘21) produces music on Ableton, a music software. [SAMIR MAHTANI FOR THE BLUE & GOLD]

It was 3 a.m. when freshman Victor Kao (‘21) sat down at his dimly lit table.

XXXTentacion, an American rapper and musician’s “Jocelyn Flores” played softly in the background. His nervous fingers swept across his keyboard as he opened Ableton—a software he knew almost nothing about. This

was the first time he would be producing music.

“I didn’t know what I was doing at all,” Victor said. “It ended up horribly, and everything was trash besides the sample I had used.”

Victor’s pursuit of the arts began while recording a cover of the rap song “Betrayed”

by American songwriter Lil Xan. “I was halfway through when I thought to myself, ‘I really like this. I want to do this for the rest of my life,’” Victor said.

For him, music is not just a school activity, but a lifestyle. “I can work for hours on end just programming, and I have been performing in the music and performing arts curriculum since Lower School,” Victor said. “Songwriting and singing is a combination of the things I like to do. To me, making music is a performance shown through programming.”

However, creating music has not always been easy for Victor. According to him, the most challenging aspect of creating is

psychological. “When you stay up at night all the time making sure everything is perfect, realizing that you don’t really have an audience is kind of depressing,” Victor said.

In many cases, beginning producers find it difficult for their music to be heard.

Apps such as Spotify and Soundcloud often direct their users to ‘Explore’ pages or ‘Recommended for You’ playlists.

Without the help from these major music platforms, beginner producers are left to advertise for themselves.

“Honestly, I’m not even sure how many people at school are involved in making music. The lack of accessibility ultimately causes musicians to lose the potentiality of having a larger audience,” Victor said.

Although there may be an audience that would enjoy the music that is being produced by new producers, without the ability to access the tracks, there is no audience at all.

“Yes, people do tend to go towards things

that are more accessible,” music production class teacher Mrs. Jennifer Anderson said.

“However there are still many ways to get out there.”

One platform student musicians could advertise themselves on is social media.

According to Mrs. Anderson, pioneering producers “must go online and actively seek for unknown audiences.”

As a growing network, social media acts as a beneficial pathway for producers not only to advertise their music, but also to form collaborations to work on music together.

However, the setbacks that Victor and other aspiring producers face do not hold them against their pursuits of musical success and happiness.

“We’re all stuck in the same boat, and that goes for anything,” Victor said.

“Ultimately, you’re going to end up with the realization that you either make it or not.

So, perhaps it’s the little enjoyment that we get from that already makes it worth it.”

young actor is new Upper School English teacher Mr. Sanders McMillan.

Creativity and performing arts have always been important in Mr. McMillan’s life.

He picked up the drums in fourth grade and continued playing this instrument into high school. “The whole street could hear [him],” Ms. Shirley Peng, academic counselor and Mr. McMillan’s mother, said.

He later joined a jazz band in Upper School and became the co-president of recreational band club Rocker’s Union.

In college, he continued this hobby as a drummer in a band called Karate Squids.

In his senior year of college, his friend lent him her electronic music program. He had been interested in this field for a while.

“I had this desire to make my own music because as a drummer, you always have to function as a sort of actor, rather than a director,” said Mr. McMillan. Soon after his first jam session, he bought his first Ableton program.

It was also during this time that Mr. McMillan worked on his senior thesis, a

study on musical creativity from a cognitive viewpoint. His research analyzes how embodied interactions with technology reveal the modality of creation in the context of the rapid development of music technologies. He claims the tools that a musician works with is important to the quality of the creative process.

“Cognition is not bound to your brain.

It involves your body and your body’s interaction with the environment. If you’re a DJ working with turntables, a lot of the original music you make is done through physical experimentation and creative discovery with your tool,” Mr. McMillan said.

As a producer, his current challenge is cultivating originality in his work. “I feel like I make music very similar to how everybody else makes music. And in some way, my study was kind of descriptive, as opposed to suggesting new ways,” he said.

His research piqued an interest in haptic experimentation such as motion capture rather than a purely digitally

sequenced composition. “One thing I am really interested in is working with MIDI controllers that are gesture-based, ways of creating music that does not just involve sitting at a computer,” he said.

As his music tastes shift, his production styles reflect new interests. Moving away from house music, Mr. McMillan is currently producing atemporal, ambient soundscapes. “[Rhythm-based production] gets rid of a lot of nuance in timing and fluctuations in time that you could produce with other programs.

So I’ve been trying out like a few different things and now I’m working with this program called MAX to try to like step outside of that a little bit.” Whether it is playing the drums, acting on a stage, or inserting notes into computer, arts and creativity have always been part of Mr. McMillan’s life.

“Any sort of creative act is a way to stay grounded, a way to extend ourselves and extend our thinking into different realms in ways not possible through speaking. It is a way to explore our daily lives and create beauty,” said Mr. McMillan.

Mr. McMillan: musician turned teacher

By Christine Lin (‘19)

Mr. Sanders McMillan (left) produces music on his computer. [PHOTO COURTESY OF MR.

MCMILLAN]

In the hallway outside the TAS auditorium, rows of photos of performing arts productions dating all the way back to line up on the walls. a black and red photo across the performing arts office that depicts a young Macbeth pulling at chains with a murderous intensity. Only a few know that

9

the blue & gold october 16, 2018

FAITH, FINANCE AND FICTION Take a look into courses which started in the 2018-2019 school year.

By Vanessa Tsao (‘19) Unlike other classes in the Upper School, a typical day in the World Religions seminar class involves doing yoga for the first half of class, and then discussing the Hindu tradition of yoga afterwards.

Mr. Christopher Ciambarella created this new course for the 2018-19 school year because of his passion for religious studies and history, which he had studied in graduate school.

The religions covered in the course include Eastern religions in the first semester, such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism.

Students will also learn about aboriginal religions like Taiwan’s Amis religion and Native American religions, as well as polytheistic religions like Wiccan gods and goddesses. The second semester will focus more on western religions including monotheistic religions like Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

“This course is an elective so it should be based on students’ interests,” Mr.

By Joon Kim (‘19) After filling your cafeteria food tray, you proceed to scan your school ID card in exchange for the food you buy. Something will always go in, go out, or remain. Honors Accounting, the newest addition to TAS’s business curriculum for this school year will satisfy your curiosity about the widespread applications of the primary language of business.

Mrs. Bruce, who has a business degree from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, modeled the course after Accounting and Financial Reporting, a semester-long class that deconstructs three types of financial statements: balance, income and cash flow. She broadened the original course to be taught slower and more extensively over the year to help students elongate their financial scope.

“The course is taught typically for one unit. We have lectures and problem sets,” Mrs. Bruce said. “It’s like math. We have to apply what you learn.”

By Joon Kim (‘19) You have a brilliant idea in your mind, but it takes a minute or two in writing a few words to elaborate that idea. Or you have already written a story, and you want to share it with someone else. Where should you turn?

Take Writing Workshop & Seminar, an elective course, where students learn to hone their creative writing skills including poetry, prose and non-fiction. Students will learn to give and take feedback and eventually be able to submit these works to literary journals or publications. This class, which is in its first year of enrollment, is open to all grade levels and taught by Mr. Henry Chuang.

For Mr. Chuang, a TAS alumnus, this English course is a “first testimony” to his Upper School student life, when he felt he was not well recognized as a writer and could not openly present his works to his peers.

“There were a lot of times when I shared my work,” he said. “And someone said, ‘This one doesn’t make sense. I don’t like what you

Ciambarella said. The bulk of the class is discussion based and students usually lead the socratic seminars themselves.

Bella Kintzley (‘19) enjoys the seminars: “We talked about the purpose of religion, and whether it is actually fulfilling that purpose,” she said. The discussions often became quite philosophical too. Bella said, “[For example], we questioned how infinite infinity really is.”

Mr. Ciambarella conducts many engaging activities for students to learn about the religions, beyond holding discussions and watching movies.

Lucien Chiu (‘19) describes an amusing moment during class, saying: “Everyone was struggling to do Raja yoga. You could hear the painful groans during the stretches while Mr. Ciambarella just does it so effortlessly.”

Yoga is only one of the many exciting activities lined up in the course. Mr. Ciambarella is arranging for guest speakers to talk to the class about various religions.

The first of these class visitors was a Nepalese

Buddhist monk. “I’m also hoping to bring in a Qi Gong and Tai Chi master too, and perhaps include a field trip to a mosque as well,” he said.

The World Religions course has made an impact by changing many students’ perceptions of religion. “I used to think Hinduism is a very serious religion involving a lot of limitations in the daily lives of Hindus, [such as] because Hindus are not allowed to eat beef,” Lucien said.

But being exposed to Hinduism through the class has refuted such stereotypes Lucien held. “I learned that there actually aren’t a lot of limitations in Hindus’ daily lives,” he said.

At the end of this course, Mr. Ciambarella hopes that what students learn in the course will get them interested in religion and encourage them to continue exploring more about it on their own.“Whether [they explore] a specific religion, or just the big themes of the class, I hope they continue exploring spirituality,” he said.

Students who aim for professional business ventures often take most, if not all, business courses offered in the upper school curriculum.

easy,” Charlene said. “But I realized that there were numerous, more complicated rules and regulations.” Compared to marketing, which involves analysis, accounting is more practical. “Every scenario is different. Every transaction is different.”

Aidan Chen (‘19) takes the course as another step towards his goal. “I want to be a CEO,” he said. “It’s crucial to my future business success.” His interest in business was first piqued at the age of five, when his father, who runs a family business, took him to a steel factory. He later wrote notes on financial statements three years later, and now, at times would read his father’s, to interpret the business’ financial status.

“I know that a lot of people get their stress from finances,” Aidan, who is the publicity head for the TAS Business Club, said.

Accounting, he said, will resolve this issue.

Doing business involves rigor and zeal, he said. “I feel happy when I—say, for example, if you play soccer, you feel happy — business is kind of like my soccer,” he said.

Business is kind of like my soccer.

“Business is happening everywhere,” Charlene Tsai (‘19), who is taking her final business class in high school, said. “In the whole high school process, you have to be realistic about the future. It’s such a broad concept. It’ll be easy to find a job instead of specific courses.”

She plans to attend a business college after graduating TAS. “We oftentimes don’t keep track of [our expenditures]. You’ll easily lose track of how much money you’re spending,” she said.

“One thing that surprised me about accounting is that [I thought] it’ll be very

did here.’ That could do a lot of damage to someone.”

Students are designed to give neutralized criticism. “You could say that we practiced the art of observation,” he said. “What seems more productive is that you share from your own opinion what this piece tells you, not what you think this piece means,” he said.

“We’re practicing the skill of giving feedback,” Mr. Chuang said.

Since 2014, the Upper School has experienced a surge in writing submissions to international literary contests, including the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and the National Council of Teachers of English Awards. In 2017, 18 out of 53 students earned Gold Key awards, which are given to those with best regional works based on Scholastic Inc. In the same year, a junior received a NCTE Achievement Award in Writing.

Mr. Chuang said he hopes to slowly diversify student recognition to literary

journals or magazines. “Cincinnati Review is one that we’re looking at,” he said. “If you want to publish a book, we’ll reach out to an agent,” Mr. Chuang said. “It helps to reach out to an agent to say, ‘Hey, I’ve already this amount of work published. I have this idea for a book. What do you think?’”

Eddie Margolis (‘19) took this class at the recommendation of his AP English Language and Composition teacher, Dr. Nathaniel Smith, after sharing his writings. Writing has helped Eddie unearth more of himself that he was not aware of. He often couples his writing with film and theatre, his favorite pastime. Through this course, Eddie hopes to see self-improvement, although he also strives for literary recognition.

“But we realize that we might always not get in,” he said. “Anything from where we submit through recognition may be not even be a complete victory. We may not gain the cash prize or be published, but that is the goal, eventually.”

HONORS WORLD RELIGION

Kambu Danjie, a Nepalese monk, gives a guest lecture on Buddhism. [VANESSA TSAO/THE BLUE & GOLD]

HONORS ACCOUNTING

Mrs. Bruce teaches her Honors Accounting class. [MS. LINDSEY KUNDEL/THE BLUE & GOLD]

WRITING WORKSHOP

Mr. Chuang teaches his writing class. [MS. LINDSEY KUNDEL/THE BLUE & GOLD]

10

When most people hear that a typhoon is coming their way, their first instinct is probably to hole up at home and stay dry and cozy. But Kevin Lu (‘19) wants to do just the opposite. Upon hearing that Category 5 Typhoon Maria would be landing in Taiwan on July 10, Kevin flew back from the U.S. this past summer just to chase it.

Deeply passionate about all things extreme weather, Kevin said storm chasing is an extension of that passion. “I want to feel the power of those storms,” he said.

“Experiencing it firsthand and observing it gives me a better understanding of the structure of typhoons.”

Kevin first started chasing typhoons in 2016, with Typhoon Megi being his first real chase. “I had this urge of going out during typhoons as early as 2013. However, I was too young and I didn’t know hurricane chasing was actually a thing,” Kevin said.

Then Kevin came across YouTube channels like EarthUncutTV and iCyclone, which introduced him into the world of hurricane chasers who document and share nature’s extremities.

Kevin’s storm chasing routine is fairly

the blue & gold october 16, 2018

simple; he films outside and collects weather data during the peak hours of the typhoon alone. The data he collects with his ‘WeatherFlow’ device includes wind speed, pressure, dew point, temperature, wind direction and humidity.

However, his solo chasing comes with significant risks. Bystanders can be hit by debris blown about by the typhoon, so while Kevin’s Typhoon Maria chase was relatively safe, Kevin said it was actually the first chase where he did not have close calls. Kevin said: “I was once blown away 10 meters by a strong gust of wind but was fortunately uninjured.”

Kevin tries to reduce risk of injury by picking a safer spot before the chase. “I generally look for areas that have less trees, glass, and debris in the predicted path of wind,” Kevin said. He also looks for locations that will enhance the wind tunnel effect. The wind tunnel effect is created when air becomes compressed when passing between buildings or mountains and hence increasing wind speed.

During the chase, he is well-equipped with a safety helmet, waterproof clothing and his mount his camera on to a fixed

object. He said, “This helps produce quality footage and allows me to collect weather data at the same time.”

I want to feel the power of those storms.

Experiencing it firsthand and observing it gives me a better understanding of the structure of typhoons.

Besides chasing typhoons, Kevin enjoys predicting typhoon paths and posting them on his Facebook. He starts his predictions about 24 hours before the typhoon is due to hit: “I average out computer models, eliminate some unrealistic outputs, and insert some of my opinions,” he said.

For Typhoon Maria, which landed this July, most of his predictions aligned with

those of the Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan—except his wind prediction. While the Central Weather Bureau said that the winds were picking up in the evening, so Taipei City would be shutting down by 4 p.m., Kevin expected that the winds would be calm until past 9 p.m.. He said: “I expected that Yangmingshan would block the winds coming from the north.”

Kevin’s wind prediction proved to be right on point. “As it turned out, the winds didn’t pick up until 10pm. I even took a nap between 8-11 p.m. as I knew I wasn’t going to miss anything,” he said.

Kevin harbors many ambitions for future chases. For his next chase, he hopes to take more data measurements. “I 3D-printed a multi-use weather mount, and I hope the prototype survives till the next typhoon hits,” Kevin said.

Looking even farther, Kevin dreams of directly penetrating the eye of a typhoon, a highly dangerous pursuit. “My main typhoon chasing goal this season is safety, because my first few chases were rather reckless. [But] next year, [since] I’ll be directly penetrating the eye of a typhoon, I will definitely need to be less reckless.”

LIFE AFTER TAS

Austin Chiang (‘03) takes the weight off patients’ shoulders

By Ian Ho (‘21) Austin Chiang (‘03) is a physician at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He serves as an assistant professor at the school, director of endoscopic bariatric, or weight loss, program in the hospital, and chief medical social media officer for the entire institution.

He specializes in the field of advanced endoscopy, a field of gastroenterology which diagnoses and treats diseases of the pancreas, bile ducts, stomach, esophagus, colon, and liver. Inserting an endoscope through the mouth, he treats cancer and other complex diseases, all of which is an impressive accomplishment for someone his age.

“Each day can differ quite a bit depending on the day,” Chiang said in regards to his daily routine. In addition to performing procedures, his work also includes seeing patients in the clinic, leading teams of trainees, doctors, nurses,

and students to help care for patients. On top of preparing for lectures and having meetings with hospital executives, he is also greatly involved in research for new technologies and investigating ways to better treat patients.

“The hospital is always bustling by the time I make my way into the hospital,” Chiang said, describing the environment at his workplace. “Being able to save lives and relieve suffering is intensely gratifying.”

Austin said that “sometimes there are emergency situations where we have to move fast to save someone’s life. But even in those moments I often need to be patient and precise to make sure procedures are safely performed and that no details are missed.”

He is currently developing the “endoscopic weight loss program” in collaboration with his colleagues from many other fields such as Bariatric Surgery, Endocrinology, Obesity Medicine and Sleep Medicine. Chiang said, “It’s a really

exciting time because endoscopic weight loss procedures are pretty novel, and there are lots of cool devices and gadgets being studied in this area! None of these procedures are even available in Taiwan.”

“I’m also a big social media fan,” Chiang said. He is also cooperating closely with the institution’s media relations team in finding doctors and other health professionals online. He strongly believes that “we need more professional voices online because there’s inaccurate medical information on the internet.”

Looking back at his graduation from college, Austin said: “I was about to embark on a brand new chapter, and it felt like my life was just starting!”

He “felt apprehensive yet excited to move from Durham, North Carolina to New York City.” Austin said that “Medical school was super interesting...despite many sleepless nights and countless exams, it was great learning about how the human body works.”

Austin Chiang (‘03) works in a surgery room at the Thomas Jefferson University Hostpital in Philadelphia, PA. [PHOTO COURTESY OF AUSTIN CHIANG]

11

the blue & gold october 16, 2018

“A Simple Favor” — or a simple failure?

Two Blue & Gold reporters share their thoughts on a recent book-turned-movie.

Neither were impressed.

[ PHOTO COURTESY OF A SIMPLE FAVOR WEBSITE ]

Book

By Catherine Lin (‘19) Stephanie, a single mother and blogger, has her life turned upside-down when her best friend, Emily, mysteriously disappears. Underneath their outward banality, Stephanie and Emily each conceal dark pasts and unsettling impulses.

In recent years, page-turners by female authors centered around female characters, including “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn and “A Girl on a Train” by Paula Hawkins, have topped best-seller lists. “A Simple Favor,” the debut novel by Darcey Bell, fits right into this trend, containing all the elements of conventional domestic noir.

Everything “A Simple Favor” tries to do, “Gone Girl” pulls off better: unlikable characters, outlandish plot twists, and even the suburban setting. “Gone Girl” makes deft use of first-person unreliable narration to depict a failing marriage in the midst of a failing economy. “A Simple Favor’s” three (three!) narrators, however, are all varying degrees of uncompelling.

Bell possesses a remarkable ability to trivialize everything she touches— domestic abuse, suicide, and substance addiction. Serious social issues are reduced to dirty little secrets in a novel already crammed full of scandalous truths.

Can women have it all? Diving into the complexities of two competing models of femininity—Emily the domineering career woman versus Stephanie the stay-athome mom—could have saved the novel, especially as both dwell upon dissatisfaction with their choices. The book misses the opportunity to thoughtfully address these

themes, choosing to focus its attention on boring and gratuitous depravity.

Early on, Stephanie, in a rare moment of insightfulness, criticizes society’s constant delegitimization of female fear. “She’s that kind of mom,” she writes about Emily in a blog post. “Not helicopter, not hands-on, not any of those negative expressions society uses to judge and punish us for loving our kids.”

Do me a simple favor and skip this book: Pick up Highsmith instead.

Unfortunately, the novel sometimes seems to validate this disdain toward anxious, committed moms. Emily and her husband, Sean, have a pejorative for women who “project that semi-aggressive competence” and “always have the latest baby equipment”: Captain Mom. Meanwhile, Stephanie frequently defines herself by her relationships with the males in her life, whether her son, her husband, or her brother. Her belief in the strength of female friendship is derided as naive and delusional.

With typical heavy-handedness, Bell describes Emily reading Patricia Highsmith, the celebrated author of psychological thrillers such as “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” The many references to other books and movies within the same genre only serve to emphasize the vast inferiority of Bell’s work in comparison.

From beginning to end, “A Simple Favor” leaves me as cold as a dead body.

So do me a simple favor and skip this book: Pick up Highsmith instead.

“An Absolutely Remarkable Thing”

By Hank Green Dutton, September 2018

By Shereen Lee (‘19)

I heard about the writing process of “An Absolutely Remarkable Thing” through years of videos and teasers from Green’s YouTube channel, and wanted desperately to like it.

Fortunately, Green’s first novel is clever, wellwritten, and everything I could reasonably hope for from a young adult novel.

Taking place in current-day New York City, the story begins with the sudden appearance of ten-foot-tall robots around the world. Recent college graduates April May and Andy Skampt, find themselves in

Film

By Kelly Phil (‘20) “A Simple Favor” follows single mom and avid blogger Stephanie Ward, (Anna Kendrick) who seeks to uncover the truth behind her best friend Emily’s (Blake Lively’s) sudden disappearance from their small town. Stephanie is joined by Emily’s husband Sean (Henry Golding) to find Stephanie’s whereabouts.

After watching the trailer, I knew that the movie was something I would enjoy. With dark and “Gone Girl”-eque undertones coupled with the glamorous costumes and suburban setting, “A Simple Favor” seemed to have all the makings of a classic murder mystery.

Even before the movie, the actors were hyping up its release in unique ways.

Blake Lively released the teaser trailer on her social media for the movie after mysteriously deleting her instagram photos the day before, unfollowing her husband, Ryan Reynolds, on Twitter, and following about two dozen profiles with the name Emily—her character’s name in the movie—on Instagram.

Through their grade school-aged sons, Stephanie and Emily become the most tenuous of girlfriends, and an oppositesattract storyline is born over rounds of martinis and increasingly illuminating playdates in a Connecticut suburb.

Stephanie is envious, naturally enthralled with Emily’s persona and lifestyle: the big, window-filled home and the handsome husband. She describes Emily as “this wonderful elegant person.”

The “simple favor” in question is actually

more than one favor: Emily continuously asks Stephanie to pick up her son after school until Emily goes missing and, subsequently, becomes fodder for Stephanie’s vlog.

There’s grim social commentary in the fact that murder and intrigue brings thousands of new subscribers, but it’s the type of commentary you’re left to annotate in your own time.

At first, it is hard to tell if A Simple Favor is going for “Gone Girl” or “Girl On The Train,” or if it is content to just be a treacherous buddy-comedy thriller dressed as “Big Little Lies”, the suburbia backdrop and needling side comments from fellow parents, played by Aparna Nancherla, Andrew Rannells of Girls fame, and Kelly McCormack are easy parallels.

Quickly, it is obvious that it’s all the above, and that whatever magic we see is the work of Kendrick and Lively making it look good and easy, under Feig’s direction.

The best parts—the majority of the first half—focus on just the two of them, in scenes that read like Charlotte and Samantha, or Joan and Toni, are trapped in a film noir.

This is where “A Simple Favor” falls down. Lively’s performance as Emily is authentically funny, but she and Kendrick read like characters from two completely different films, with Golding as an extra from some other, much worse flick.

“A Simple Favor” simply fails to leave the audience rooting for anybody in particular, unless you can be on the side of Blake Lively’s magnificent wardrobe.

When a pair of trousers steals your movie, you are in the kind of pickle that no plot twist can redeem.

the middle of an international crisis as they reveal the robots’ potentially-alien origins.

“An Absolutely Remarkable Thing” is incredible in many respects, both in concept and execution. Unfortunately, I found the book undercut with political implications that prevented me from loving the story.

The U.S. president of the book’s world, for example, is not Donald Trump. Instead, she is a Hillary Clinton stand-in. (At least, that is my assumption based on an unnecessarily detailed description of her pantsuit.) And villains are one-dimensional, inompetent pundits who magically land large platforms despite no qualifications, and ultimately never gain power.

In reality, while there is no shortage of these situations, more often than not, “bad

guys” are senators, CEOs and presidents.

Obnoxiously optimistic, false details like this have made me deeply suspicious of Green’s central argument—that humans are good—because in making his statement, he manipulated his novel to underplay the role that hate plays in 2018.

Hate does not just emerge from shadowy corners of the internet. They are not all fringe groups, or angry hackers. Green—maybe even unintentionally—has caricatured the nature of political discourse to create something that can be easily wrapped up in a “happily ever after.” While I respect that decision and enjoyed his book as a whole, I feel that this disingenuous portrayal is one that patronizes his young adult audience and left me more worried for our political future.

12

the blue & gold october 16, 2018

READY, SET, GOAL

Season one is underway. The Taipei American School varsity teams for cross country, volleyball and soccer will be competing at their Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools tournaments from Oct. 18-20.

Kyle Hu (‘20) jump sets at an exchange game in the Joie Gymnasium. [PHOTO COURTESY OF MR. MIKE CORSINI]

Jesse Whitefield (‘20) plays at a home game. [PHOTO COUR-

CROSS COUNTRY

VOLLEYBALL

SOCCER

By Phoebe Chen (‘21)

By Anya Lai (‘19)

By Natalie Scheidel (‘21)

The season one cross country team has been training and competing in preparation for their upcoming race at the International School of Kuala Lumpur on Oct 18-20. Last year, the girls team placed fifth, while the boys placed third.

This year, they are determined to improve their performance at the Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools.

When describing the team’s experience during the 2017 IASAS races, co-captain Emily Kao (‘19) said, “Although we did well at pre-IASAS, we fell short at IASAS because half of the team was sick.”

Logan Chen (‘20), co-captain of the boys team, said, “Our teams last year was fast, but our times weren’t close to each other. We wouldn’t have as much improvement if we weren’t all separated.”

The coaches also hope their teams show improvement at their upcoming IASAS race. “The returning runners have greatly improved, and there are four new underclassmen runners that are all on varsity,” Mr. Steve Anderson, head coach of the girls team, said.

Despite his hopes that the girls varsity team can place in the top three this year, he is still prepared for the worst. “I still have to be guarded because the teams that finished first and second last year are all racing with returning runners,” Mr. Anderson said.

As for the boys team, Mr. Dante Benson, their assistant coach, is determined to perform strongly at IASAS. “We have a core group of returning athletes that have elevated their game,” Mr. Benson said. “They are doing very well, and I am sure we will be a very formidable force in IASAS cross country.”

“The team is different from others [in] that we like to do wild things like rowing on escalators and cart racing at airports,” Logan said. “However, we also still work hard.

To get to where I am right now, I’ve had to sacrifice the wellbeing of my legs. They are slowly deteriorating from excessive running.”

Ultimately, both teams are prepared and passionate for the upcoming IASAS competition. “To all the athletes participating in cross country, I’d say regardless of how hot or cold or terrible it is to train, always remember your end goal,” Mr. Benson said. “And ultimately, that is the history you are trying to make as champions.”

On Oct. 18-21, the Taipei American School volleyball teams will travel to Kuala Lumpur for the annual Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asia Schools tournament. The boys, who broke their three-year gold streak last IASAS, have set out to redeem themselves. The girls, who ended with bronze, are striving for higher placement as well.

This year, both teams have new coaches; former girls varsity head coach, Mr. Peter Kimball, now leads the boys team along with assistant coach Mr. Gabe Hung. Former junior varsity boys head coach Mr. William Fillbach and coach Ms. Yvonne Tan now coach the girls team.

These changes do not affect either team’s dynamic. Most of the girls have already worked with either Ms. Tan or Mr. Fillbach at some point in the past. Co-captain Charlotte Lee (‘20) said, “In a way, there’s a nostalgic familiarity that helps our team chemistry.”

Similarly, boys volleyball co-captain Benjamin Kao (‘19) thinks the team’s off-season training will make up for a lack of history with their coach. “During games, coach sits on the bench and gives us tips. We know what each person’s roles are and what we have to work on,” Ben said.

The girls varsity team has six new players this year.

Despite their youth, the girls believe they are stronger than last year. “Our younger players make up for lack of game experience because they practice more hours than anyone else,” said Charlotte.

In contrast, the boys varsity team has 11 returning players, many of whom have trained together since eighth grade. They have been improving these skills by providing self-induced punishments. Whenever a player touches the net or has a serving error during a game, the team does10 pushups for every mistake.

Apart from training together six days a week, the teams bond over both old and new traditions. The girls have a pregame ritual called “secret sisters,” where each team member prepares a snack and note to wish each other good luck. The boys bond over their love for K-pop, an annual shrimping trip and a dinner they call “barbarian night.”

“The girls varsity team has had an unfortunate history of underperforming or losing games that put them in a difficult position for matchups more than anything, so I want to have a new tradition of winning,” Charlotte said.

Taipei American School’s varsity soccer team will attend the 2018 Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian School tournament, which takes place at Singapore American School from Oct. 18-20. Trainging officially began on Aug. 10, with both teams practicing five days a week.

Last year, the boys placed third, while the girls finished in second place due to the weather. Co-captain Chloe Mann (‘20) said, “We all believed we could’ve won, but the rain canceled the final game.”

Captain Sydney Hu (‘19) said, “We are not settling for silver three years in a row.” This year, the girls are more determined than ever to come back with a gold medal.

This year’s team only lost two players, so it is both wellbonded and skilled. Chloe said, “We just need to have the confidence for the games, last year, we went in thinking ‘we can win,’ but this year it’ll be the mindset of ‘we will win.’”

Mr. Julian Thornbury, varsity girls head coach, agrees that chemistry and interdependence will take them far. Mr. Thornbury said, “If the girls play the best brand of soccer they possibly can, they’ll bring back gold, since they are better and more motivated than before.”

“I coach the girls to have the mindset of playing with fire in the heart, but ice on the mind.” Mr. Thornbury said.

This means playing with a cool mind under pressure but also playing with passion for every minute of the game.

For the boys team, four-year IASAS player and co-captain Alexander Chen (‘19) said that last year’s performance last year at IASAS was top-notch, with effective strategizing and skilled passing. However, since the team is a mix of players from various grades, building a cohesive team is a slow process. “So to succeed, players need to depend on trust and each other,” Mr. Carl Lochrin, head coach of the boys varsity team, said.

Alexander also said that because the team is very inexperienced, with only nine returning players, so the expectations are not high for this year. “While we have really good enthusiasm and discipline, speaking realistically, our goal at IASAS this year will be to try to not get sixth place.”

Both the girls and boys teams are very motivated for the upcoming IASAS competitions. ”Ultimately, it is all about the mind game,” Mr. Thornbury said.

Logan Chen (‘20) competes in the 5k event during a weekend race at Yangmingshan. [PHOTO COURTESY OF MR. MIKE CORSINI]

TESY OF MR. MIKE CORSINI]